India still a generic drug market - Oz researcher

The Australian Government’s trade education and investment devlopment agency organised a session on Australia in Life Sciences on Thursday at the Taj Deccan. The session was a B2B session between an Australian cancer research and life sciences delegation and Indian bi-ventures and pharma companies. The delegation presented the latest in cancer research and shared their experiences regarding research development.

The delegation then enlightened the people about the extent of research that is being done in their universities and medical research facilities. It also elaborated on the extent to which their government, both federal and state, are lending a jutting financially. One of the presenters, Jayaram, Insight Bio-Ventures said, “India as a market has a lot of scope for life sciences. For a manufacturer, India has a lot of potential and can surely come to an understanding with the Australian market demands.” Suresh Mathivanan, Researcher, La Trobe University, Melbourne spoke about exosomes and their importance in tackling cancerous cells. He said that they can be used to demarcate the differences between a patient and a regular person. They are essentially bio-markers which can help the doctors understand the extent of cancer and also can be used to administer a drug or chemotherapy to the afflicted area only without any side-effects. Paul Savage, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation said, “India has a lot of potential but there is a lot of generic drugs being manufactured here there is no experimental testing or manufacturing happening here. It is basically a generic market.

” The meet ended with the pharmas and bio-ventures interacting with the delegates about their profiles and showcasing what they could deliver to the Australian needs.